Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness will chair the executive board of the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority. 

The City of Fishers issued a news release with more details:

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Elected officials from several Central Indiana municipalities gathered for the first official meeting of the Central Indiana Regional Development Authority (CIRDA). CIRDA’s current members include the City of Beech Grove; City of Carmel; City of Fishers; Consolidated City of Indianapolis; City of Lawrence; Town of McCordsville; City of Noblesville; Town of Speedway; and the Town of Zionsville. The fiscal body of each participating member has adopted enabling legislation necessary to join CIRDA.  

“As we finally codify a true regional collaborative spirit, our residents and future generations will benefit from the work we put in today,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. “These efforts will strengthen Central Indiana’s position as a leader in business growth and placemaking.” 

The elected mayor of the Consolidated City of Indianapolis will hold an ex-officio position on the executive board, with Mayor Joe Hogsett receiving the current appointment. Members elected the following officers: Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness as Chairperson; Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen as Vice-Chairperson; and Zionsville Mayor Emily Styron as Secretary-Treasurer. 

Addressing the region’s award from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s (IEDC) Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grant was CIRDA’s first order of business. The group confirmed the grant’s administrator and formally adopted the funding from the State’s grant program for the White River Regional Opportunity Initiative. Information on the READI projects can be found here. 

“We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and work together to bring more funding opportunities, like the IEDC’s READI grant, to Central Indiana to continue to drive the momentum we see today,” said Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen. 

Indiana State Code authorizes eligible political subdivisions located in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson Metropolitan Statistical Area to form a Regional Development Authority (RDA) to better coordinate and participate in the following: Assist in the coordination of local efforts concerning projects that are of regional importance; assist a county, a municipality, a commuter transportation district, an airport authority, and a regional transportation authority in coordinating regional transportation and economic development efforts; and fund projects that are of regional importance. 

“We’ve been fortunate to have strong leadership in our business and nonprofit sectors who have helped shape the region we call home today,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. “As elected leaders, we are coming together to not just deepen our collaboration but leverage our collective assets to create an even better Central Indiana.”  

Future meetings will begin to address a Comprehensive Strategic Economic Development Plan, a requirement of Regional Development Authorities. CIRDA has committed to adopting a Plan by December 2022.  

The Hamilton County Highway Department has announced lane restrictions for areas of Olio Road.  Read the release below for more details:

Please be advised, beginning on or after July 5, 2022, Olio Road between Geist Reservoir and Haven Cove Lane, the first road south of the Geist Reservoir Bridge, may have daily lane restrictions for northbound and southbound traffic for the reconfiguration and installation of access to Geist Park and the Marina. 

These lane restrictions will occur between the hours of 9am and 4pm, Monday thru Friday. The estimated project completion date is August 1, 2022.

Most counties in Indiana have 3 county commissioners that act much like mayors of cities…commissioners run the county and the county council generally has jurisdiction over the budget. Hamilton County Commissioners Mark Heirbrandt and Christine Altman fully expected to be in the audience watching fellow Commissioner Steve Dillinger deliver the 2022 annual State of the County address.

Then it became known that Dillinger had tested positive for COVID-19.  That caused some scrambling, with Commissioners Heirbrandt and Altman working on a tight deadline to rework the presentation for the two of them Wednesday at the 4-H Fairgrounds.

The Noblesville Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the event, announced at the outset that they had booked a full house for the lunch and address.

Heirbrandt and Altman did a tag team on presenting the update on Hamilton County government.  The duo led the speech with an update on State Road 37.  As reported earlier on this blog, the planned interchange at 141st Street and State Road 37 will be rebid.  High construction costs and some other issues will delay that project, possibly into 2024, because the bids were far too high at this time.

The commissioners then turned to the planned rebuilding of the intersection at 146th Street & Allisonville Road.  “We knew we needed to address this sooner than later,” said Heirbrandt.  “You can see during rush hour this thing is backed up for miles.”  There will be an overpass on 146th Street and a roundabout on ground level.  Construction is to start in the spring of 2023 with completion set for the fall of 2024.  The cost to the county will be $35.8 million, with $9.5 million in federal funds.

Altman did have some bad news for motorists on Allisonville Road.  During the construction period, it will be necessary to close Allisonville Road for 90 days.  County officials will announce the exact dates once that is determined.

The commissioners cited a number of other items the county is handling, including other road projects and a major upgrade to the county fairgrounds.

It was also announced that the county has 16,000 job positions open, the most on record.

The county has purchased land in the Noblesville area for a Women’s Shelter, in the area of State Road 38 & River Road.  County officials are working with the nonprofit group Prevail on details of that planned facility.

Finally, the Noblesville Chamber cited Beth Niedermeyer for her service as Noblesville Schools Superintendent.  Dr. Niedermeyer is retiring and her last day on the job is June 30.  I got to know her during her time as an assistant superintendent for Hamilton Southeastern Schools.  I wish Beth Niedermeyer all the best in her well-earned retirement years.

Fishers was settled 150 years ago today, and the city is ready to look back on our history to recognize the birthday – the Fishers Sesquicentennial.  Mayor Scott Fadness and Public Relations Director for the city, Ashley Elrod, join Larry to talk about plans to celebrate.

Every time I am asked to be a moderator for a candidate event, I do it, then swear I will never do that again.  Perhaps it is just the passage of time that softens my determination.

The Democratic Party of Hamilton County asked me to moderate a candidate event Tuesday evening at the Fishers Hamilton East Library.  This is part of a state-wide series of such events sponsored by Democrats.

I was torn about whether to accept the invitation.  Democrats did invite Republicans to join in the conversation, but I am told they all declined.  It is not a surprise that Republicans declined to attend a series of events sponsored by Democrats.

But Libertarian Party candidates were also invited and made an appearance at the Fishers event.

So, I accepted the invitation to be the moderator, on the condition that I am doing so as an independent journalist.  Democrats honored that and did not do anything except hand over questions for the candidates submitted by members of the audience.  I decided what questions to ask and how to word each question.

There were times that Libertarian candidates agreed with the Democrats on the stage on an issue like abortion, but there were some sharp differences on the issue of guns.

Other issues discussed included the economy and issues over voting.

It was good to see a large crowd, which indicates there is interest in the upcoming election.

Here are the candidates taking the stage Tuesday night:

United States Senate   

Tom McDermott  –  Democrat

James Sceniak  –  Libertarian

United States Congress District 5

Jeannine Lee Lake   –  Democrat

Indiana House District 32

Vivtoria Garia Wilburn  –  Democrat

Indiana Senate  District 31

Jocelyn Vare  –  Democrat

Indiana Secretary of State

Destiny Wells  – Democrat

Jeff Maurer  –  Libertarian

Anyone with a telephone, cell or wired, know that phone scammers always seem to find you.  There are a variety of ways thieves pry upon unsuspecting people.

The Fishers Police Department wants to alert local residents of a new angle on this scam – saying there is an arrest warrant out for you and instructing you to buy a gift card.  Sadly, some local people have been victimized.

Below is the full text of the Fishers Police message:

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Over the past several weeks the Fishers Police Department has responded to several different types of telephone scams. One of the most recent scams involved a suspect accusing the victim of having an outstanding arrest warrant and demanding they send gift cards to clear their name.

Many of these telephone scammers instruct the victim to stay on the phone, not tell anyone of the conversation, and travel to a store and purchase gift cards or green dot cards for a certain amount. Unfortunately, there have been a few Fishers residents that have been taken advantage of and have lost thousands of dollars. Here are a few safety tips you should follow if you are contacted by a possible telephone scammer:

• Immediately hang up the phone if you do not recognize or know the caller
• Never give out personal information. If you feel the call might be legitimate, you can ask the person to mail you information
• Never provide gift card numbers to anyone over the telephone
• No legitimate company or organization requires payment via gift cards or green dot cards
• No law enforcement agency threatens to arrest people over the phone
• If something does not sound or feel right, hang up the phone
• You are welcome to contact your local law enforcement agency, however most of these telephone scams originate from overseas and are very difficult if not impossible to trace.

Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger has tested positive for COVID-19, so that means there will be some changes to the State of the County address Wednesday at the 4-H Fairgrounds.

According to a county new release, the other two commissioners, Mark Heirbrandt and Christine Altman, will share the duties of delivering the annual speech.

“The pair are expected to discuss a myriad of infrastructure projects as well as designs for a new domestic violence shelter and two new county parks, as well as the county’s finances,” according to the county announcement.

The State of the County is hosted by the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce.

The 2022 summer version of Shop Fishers is back for year number three, and the city-sponsored series is set for July 16-23.

This is an effort to promote local businesses.

“With deals ranging from 20% off your purchase, to buy one get one free, to discounted gift cards, you can soak up the summer’s best deals with back-to-school bargains and end-of-summer fun,” according to a city news release.

More than 50 establishments are participating this year.

Here is a full listing:

Continue reading Shop Fishers, summer edition, back for 2022 →

As I have previously written, the 2022 Spark Fishers Festival dodged a bullet from the weather.  The street fair, parade & fireworks all went off without a hitch.  Now, local attention turns to an important anniversary.

Fishers will honor its place on the map as a municipality this year, with its 150 year birthday, meaning it will be a sesquicentennial celebration.  The city is spearheading a number of activities.

Fishers is searching for its oldest living resident.  If you know of someone that might meet that criteria, use this link to contact the city.

In a few days, I will be working with the City of Fishers to produce a series of podcasts about Fishers’ sesquicentennial and the history of our local community.  I am scheduled to record the first in that series of podcasts later this week.

Also, local publisher Tom Britt of Fishers Magazine mentioned a time capsule his organization plans to put together for the future.  He talked about that while serving as the announcer for the Spark Fishers Festival parade Saturday.

I have a feeling this is going to be great for our city, going all the way back to the start of Fishers in 1872.  I am looking forward to playing a small part of it.

Fishers had a summer festival from 1989 through 2017 named the Fishers Freedom Festival and dissolved the nonprofit group running that event, so the city took over the celebration in 2018 as the Spark Fishers Festival.  This summer event has seen all kinds of weather for this time of year, but the weather gave Fishers a break in 2022.

No rain had been forecast for the street fair, parade and fireworks set for Saturday.  But a line of showers formed to the northwest of our fair city and menaced the festival, particularly the parade.

We all kept a close eye on the forecast and weather radar, which did not look good around 5pm.  Then, the rain appeared to dissipate before arriving over the festival grounds.  Other than a few small drops of rain, the conditions were perfect for the festival – no rain, overcast with pleasant temperatures.

So, the street fair went on, the parade started and ended with no weather issues and the fireworks were performed without any rain.

It was a good day, with a very large crowd for the parade (at least that’s the way it looked from my vantage point just west of Municipal Drive on 116th Street).

I took plenty of photos Saturday, so here is the product of my work, plus a video of the Fishers Tigers Marching Band:

Continue reading Weather was Spark Fishers Festival’s friend in 2022 →